Posts by Kyle MacDonald

Great piece Andrea, and I agree more funding isn’t THE answer. But in my experience when the money and resources shrink, sectioning to ‘ensure safety’ becomes a proxy for meaningful engagement. When clinicians have more time and autonomy to form therapeutic relationships, in other words free to do their job, people are kept safe and contained. When they don’t or can’t do this, an adversarial system flourishes fuelled by clinician burnout and clients feeling alientated, uncared for and dehumanised. This is where we are now, sadly.

The new Sensitive Claims system, (which was an outcome of the 2009 fallout, and subsequent ministerial review, of which all professional bodies including psychotherapists helped design) is now fully funded, hence no surcharge payable by the client.

"It was believed that children should be given positive messages about sex. Adult contacts were not hidden from children. Children and adolescents were not discouraged when they demonstrated an interest in sexual activities including sexual contact with adults... ...I was the doctor for the community from 1989 until 1992."

Three things:1. Sexual contact with minors was indisputably illegal at the time (regardless of what people may have "believed" was good or bad)

2. There was ample evidence at the time of the detrimental effects of sexual contact with children on their ongoing psychological development.

3. Medical professionals have a duty of care, and ethical requirement to report, suspected sexual abuse of minors.

Yes exactly. It is much less damaging and misleading to describe these cases as a failure of interviewing children appropriately, as opposed to being evidence of a syndrome whereby children falsely recall sexual abuse.